


花でマーク [ᵐᵃʳᵏᵉᵈ ᵇʸ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠˡᵒʷᵉʳˢ]

by uracchi



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, HikaMasa, Implied Relationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Soulmates, Self-Harm, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, kariya's parents are NOT midorikawa and tatsuya
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27332128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uracchi/pseuds/uracchi
Summary: [school sucks istg i am gonna update this fic one day]Hikaru can't figure out what the strange marks that appeared on his body after his sixteenth birthday could lead to. He only knows they're linked to his soulmate, yet he doesn't know in which way. The answer is closer than he'd ever think.
Relationships: (implied) Tsurugi Kyousuke/Kariya Masaki, Kageyama Hikaru/Kariya Masaki
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. midnight.

Hikaru couldn't stop staring at his phone's screen for the last hour.

_Monday, June 1st, 11:48pm._

Only some minutes were keeping him away from being sixteen, and that meant he'd have soon seen, or witnessed in any way the first signs leading him to his soulmate.

And he definitely wanted to spend that special night with his friends, if he only had many. He tried to gather up as much people he could, he texted everyone he could find in his phone's index, yet only one of them came to spend some time with him. Better than nothing, at least.

<<Aren't you... aren't you sad it's only the two of us? You always said you wanted to spend this day with people's company...>> Tenma sighed as he realized no one was actually gonna reach them at the park, in the middle of the night.

<<I'm fine, don't worry. You're here, after all>> Kageyama smiled at him, checking again his phone <<Damn, it's only some minutes away, I'm so nervous!>>

<<You should be excited though! I can't even imagine how I'll feel when it'll be my turn>> the brunette replied <<I'm probably more curious than you to see what will happen>>

<<Yeah, indeed>> Hikaru slightly laughed, sitting then on a bench nearby and looking up to the starry sky <<I wonder if there's really anyone out there I can call my soulmate, to be honest>>

<<Don't say like this! Everyone has their own one, you'll just have to wait to found them! Some people find their soulmate after a couple weeks from their sixteenth birthday, some others after months, some others after years, but they eventually all do, so just be positive about it!>> Matsukaze turned to him, but soon found out his words probably meant nothing to the lilac haired male. He couldn't figure out what expression was reflected in his eyes, yet he knew he wasn't feeling alright.

<<You know... if out of all the people I invited tonight only you came, is there any probability there'll be someone in the world being chosen for me?>>

<<Did you not hear me before? It's not that as midnight comes you'll suddenly meet your soulmate, and I'm sure there's more than one people caring for you than your soulmate. I wouldn't be here if I didn't care>> Tenma sat next to him, trying to smile as much supportively as he could to cheer his friend up <<Say, did everyone you texted really not answer to then not come tonight?>>

<<N-No... Aoi said she couldn't come because she's at her grandparents' house in another city, Kariya had to study since he's failing some classes and... I think there's no more answers I got>> he answered, looking now at the ground.

<<That's already two people caring enough to tell you that they weren't gonna come instead of not even answering! Don't get down this easily>> In that moment, not even on purpose, Tenma's eyes met the clock placed some meters away from the bench, and realized how much time had passed <<Hey, it's almost midnight!>>

Hikaru instantly took out his phone and realized he was right.

<<Oh my God, I'm not ready>> he mumbled, to then notice it had finally become midnight.

<<Do you see anything in particular? Anything on your body... I don't know, maybe on your wrists?>> Matsukaze soon started asking him, but there was nothing to be so excited for.

<<Nope. There's nothing>> Kageyama was wearing shorts, and as he couldn't even see anything on his legs he excluded the possibility to have any marks on his body.

<<Well then, let's check if you can see all the colors. I've heard of so many people not being able to see their soulmate's eye color until they met them>> Tenma quickly googled up a color picker, yet Hikaru could still see every of them.

<<I told you, there's no one done for me>>

<<Hey! Remember what I said! There are millions of possibilities, in your case you should just wait. Some people start noticing something is changing or being alterated later, based on something else their soulmate does or feels!>> the brown haired male explained, standing up and pulling his friend's arm <<Wanna go get some ice cream now? You should distract yourself>>

Maybe he was right, after all.

He just didn't have to think about it as it was his priority.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me starting to write a long just for comfort as my mental health said 📉📉📉  
> anyways this was just a prologue, i'll go soon deeper into the plot, hope someone will read this because tbh idk how many people will even notice this fic existing :,)  
> see ya next chapter <3


	2. nothing.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

One week had passed since his birthday, yet Hikaru didn't notice anything different in himself. He could still see, talk, he saw nothing special on his body, he heard nothing in his head, nothing.

There had to be an explaination, but he had no idea who he could've asked some help to. As a matter of fact, the first person he thought to call had never experienced it himself.

<<Didn't I tell you last thursday? You just have to wait>> Tenma wasn't expecting

<<Yeah, but->>

<<I'm not sixteen yet, I can't help you that much, okay? What can I tell you if not to wait?>>

Hikaru sighed <<Thanks... do you know anyone I could ask to, anyways? Someone who has already had their marks, or whatever happened to them>>

<<Not that I remember, you're the only friend I have who is also sixteen>> Matsukaze kinda laughed realizing how he and his few friends were actually pretty young compared to the rest of their class <<Isn't Kariya sixteen though? I mean, I never talk to him, but you seem to do, maybe you could ask him>>

<<I don't think I will, not today at least. He's got his last exam tomorrow, I guess he's studying for it>> The lilac haired male answered, a bit worried about the exam his friend had to do.

He didn't even know whether to consider him a friend or not if he had to be honest: he had never been such in a good relationship with him, yet he was one of the only people who sometimes answered to his texts, even if he didn't receive the nicest replies but he was glad he didn't ignore him at all.

It wasn't relevant, though. Friend or not, in that situation he could've never called him. He had way more important things to do than explaining him soulmates stuff.

<<Hey, Hikaru? Are you still there?>> Tenma's voice brought him back to reality.

<<Y-Yes, sorry, I get distracted easily t-these days>> he stuttered <<Thanks again, I guess I'll just wait then...>>

<<No problem! See ya>> the brunette ended the call, and Kageyama sighed again, louder than before.

_He definitely wasn't gonna wait._

*******

<<But I'm not sixteen yet->>

<<I know! I was just wondering if you knew more about this topic or if you have friends who have already got their marks or whatever...>>

<<Oh, if we're not talking about first person experience maybe I have a bit more info I could tell you>>

Hikaru instantly smiled at those words.

<<That's amazing, Aoi! Tell me, tell me!>>

<<Okay, so...>> the girl tried to remember as much as she knew the faster she could <<I don't have any friends who already found their soulmate but, two of my best friends are third years and both felt their signs already. The first one stopped seeing the color blue after turning 16, yet she doesn't know whether her soulmate has blue hair or blue eyes. The second one sometimes feels sudden pain, it might be that she feels pain when her soulmate does as well>>

Kageyama stayed silent for a while.

<<Hikaru?>>

<<Sorry! I was just... well... you really have no more info?>> he shyly asked.

<<Not that I know>> Aoi sighed, as she really wanted to help him somehow <<I guess I'm not of any help then, ain't I?>>

<<Sadly...>>

<<Oh, anyways before i forget, I'm really sorry I couldn't be with you on your birthday! It's just that->>

<<It's okay, don't worry, you already told me you couldn't because of your family>> Kageyama had the bad sensation that Sorano realized he was feeling lonely lately, and that was the last thing he wanted to show her. There was no way he would've let himself down... or was there one? He suddenly had no strenght anymore to talk with her.

<<I gotta go now, thanks for answering though>> He told her, ending the call before she could reply.

Were people starting to apologize to him just to make him feel better? Was he actually feeling bad, then?

This thought insinuated in his mind and was not gonna go away easily.

Yet he still wanted to know the reason why he was markless, why he couldn't notice anything different at all, why he wasn't like the others. It was becoming the most important thing for him, and he was conscious of that.

Although he promised himself not to do that, Hikaru instinctively picked up his phone and searched through his contacts, calling one of them without caring about the consequences.

<<Why are you calling me now?>>

Kageyama got surprised at how fast he got the call answered. He definitely knew he was doing something wrong, yet something in his mind wasn't stopping him from it.

<<Say, Kariya... you're already sixteen, right?>> The younger male soon realized he had no idea how to ask someone such as Masaki about that topic.

<<Go straight to the point, I'm busy>>

<<Okay... I was just wondering why I didn't get, you know, those soulmate marks everyone else seems to do and you're the only person being sixteen I know so->>

<<That's all? I thought it was something more important>>

Hikaru didn't know how to feel after those words. He couldn't tell if Kariya was mad, annoyed, or thought he was going to ask him a more serious question and wasn't anrgy about it.

But he quickly got an answer to his question.

<<I have exams tomorrow and I have no time to talk about such things. Do your researches on internet instead of calling me>>

<<I get it but, can you then just tell me if you have got marks or anything as we->>

<<No! Leave me alone already!>>

This time, it was Kageyama having his call ended before being able to, at least, wish him good luck for the exams.

He would never say these kind of words but, if he had to describe how his situation was in that moment, _he was definitely fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanted to make clear that, even though in japan school holidays usually start in spring, here they'll start in summer because it'll be more useful to the plot (you'll find out as soon as i have the motivation to go on ahah). i also based it on the fact that, where i live, the first week of june is still a school week and most times the final year exams are in those days.  
> anyways,, i hope i didn't do any ortography or spelling mistake in this chapter as well, please feel free to leave any constructive criticism and/or to correct my english if there's anything wrong in it!!  
> no spoilers but next chapter goes right into the angst :,D  
> one last thing though! it's not that i bypassed kariya not having marks as well, but it's hikaru being too sad to realize that quick he said it. we'll see sooner ;)  
> i hope you're enjoying the fic as of now! see ya next chapter <3


	3. numbers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate how this chapter is so short but there's also much important info in it. i'm so bad at writing bye

After ending the call with him, Kariya couldn't deny he actually felt bad for replying in that way to Hikaru.

Although, all the concentration he gained to revise for his last exam completely disappeared after Kageyama brought in the soulmates discourse, which made him think again about something he promised himself to not be so serious about.

He actually _had_ marks, or better, he used to.

Truth was, he didn't have any for weeks after his sixteenth birthday, but one day he realized he had a number on his wrist. As far as he remembered, it was 163 or something around that. The next day, though, it was gone. At first he thought it was some kind of allucination, but some days later he got another number, a 5.4, that time on his shoulder instead. Just to make sure he'd still have a proof if it disappeared the day after, he took a pic of it, realizing it probably was not the last time something like that would've happened and trying to put together as much clues as he could by analyzing the numbers together.

He couldn't admit that such a topic was keeping him away from serious thoughts sometimes, as he considered himself someone who didn't care much about love or anything related to it. He had been in a relationship only once, and it wasn't the best experience he could've ever had.

Firstly because it didn't work out well and he got out from it after a couple months, then because he was actually attracted by a guy. He was not sure whether it was both of his parents being homophobic or only his dad was, but they both found out he was meeting with a guy sooner he could even realize himself they were dating, and neither of them seemed that happy about it.

From that day onwards the relationship with his parents got worse, both because of them not being okay with him liking guys - though he wasn't even sure about his sexuality - and because of his grades dropping lower and lower. He didn't really gave it importance, until the last two months came in and he realized his situation at school was way more tragic than he thought. Half of his subjects' average were not enough for him to pass the year without any risk to fail it, and he had to get really high grades in at least four of them to avoid it.

He managed to cope with some of those subjects, sometimes copying from other people's tests, but the last one was decisive for him: not only he was the only person doing that test - as apparently no one other than him had low chemistry grades - but if he failed that one he'd have had extra homework for the whole summer and another test to do before the next school year started, which would've led him to failing the year if it went wrong as well. In addition to his zero motivation to revise his least favorite and understood subject, the number marks kept appearing at random times and in random parts of his body, the last one during the last week of May.

Those numbers didn't make sense at all in his opinion, but there was surely something related to them he was not smart yet to realize.

He sighed loudly, giving a look again at the chemistry book opened on his desk.

He already remembered nothing of what he read for the past three hours.

"Damn you, Kageyama"

*******

Hikaru slept way more than usual after that call, and he didn't even sleep well.

The harshness of Kariya's words made him feel pretty down, and the more time passed by the more he was convinced it was only his fault.

After all, it was him who called, not Masaki. And he already knew the teal haired male wasn't in the right mood to talk, especially about that topic.

As he sleepily walked through the kitchen to get a glass of water, the whole conversation - if he could still call that short call like that - with Kariya replayed fastly in his head, until he realized one thing he was too sad to realize the day before.

_"Can you then just tell me if you have got marks or anything as we-"_

_"No! Leave me alone already!"_

<<"No"? Wait, he doesn't have a mark as well?!>>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this chapter faster than i thought :0  
> i'm not sure whether i'll make the name of kariya's ex boyfriend explicit or not but as i have someone in mind... there might be more related to it, to be honest.  
> anyways kariya's hate towards chemistry is a sort of paradox as his character song (along with hikaru) is called houkago chemistry ("after school chemistry") but it's mostly intended as cooperation during soccer practice - and not chemistry between them, you can bet i cried when i read the translated lyrics lmao - and i've always headcanoned kariya hating science subjects so yeah, here he goes.  
> i hope the storyline isn't being boring for now, i can promise it'll get deeper as chapters go by


	4. time.

Ever since he handed the test to his teacher, Kariya couldn't stop thinking at the possible mistakes he could've had done. He knew his test wasn't perfect, he was sure he didn't do a perfect job, yet he was so confused about his answers. He still couldn't understand some topics well, and his biggest fear was that he could've had confused all the definitions he had to write, excluding the practical excercises which he didn't have any idea of the results as well.

The teal haired male took his phone out trying to distract himself, yet as he read the text that popped up on the screen he stopped walking by the sidewalk and stood, confused.

He didn't even know who was texting him, it probably was someone from school he didn't name the phone number of, but that didn't matter. What was written in the text made him go mad, other than being perplexed.

"Did you and Tsurugi-kun get back together? I saw the pic he uploaded on Instagram, you're so cute"

Masaki's mind barely processed everything, yet he quickly unblocked _that_ Instagram account and realized what he never wanted to see. Not again, at least.

He didn't even remember when they took that picture, but it was there. He'd have never thought his ex boyfriend would've had uploaded a picture of them together, as if they never broke up and everything was going fine between them. As if he never felt anything after all.

Without answering the previous text, Kariya searched up in his contacts the one number he'd never wanted to talk with anymore, and phoned him without thinking at what to tell first. He wasn't surprised to get the call answered so quickly.

<<What in the world are you thinking about?! I told you to forget about me!>>

<<What're you referring to?>>

The way he sounded like he didn't care at all definitely hurt Masaki's feelings a bit. As much as he despised him, he was sure he was somewhat sad about their breakup. And he was slowly going crazy because of it.

<<Acting stupid, huh? I'm not that dumb, I've found out without even unblocking you at first. And what's with the hearts in the goddamn caption?!>>

<<Oh, the picture. I thought it was cute and harmless>> the older male's voice was way too calm it had to be, and Kariya had no idea how could he act so quiet.

<<Harmless? Really? I regret meeting you each day more>>

<<Weren't you the one who confessed, though?>>

 _Silence_.

That was too much to handle for him without completely freaking out. He didn't even care about the fact that he was outdoors, and that people would've listened to the whole conversation if they wanted to, nothing mattered anymore for him.

<<You never cared... I loved you and you never cared... you asshole...>>

<<Who, me? But i cared->>

<<Shut the fuck up Kyousuke!>> Right after he had shouted at him, the youngest felt tears rolling down his cheeks, and he hated that feeling with his whole being. He hadn't cried in months, maybe one year, and he never liked crying. He felt weaker than he believed he was, as if all his efforts to not break down during such hard times were in vain.

_He hated himself._

<<Listen, I don't wanna hear anything about you ever again. Block me on every social media, delete my number, I just wanna make sure I'll never talk to you again. I've had enough>> he hissed, trying to get back at having a calm approach with him. At the end there wasn't any reason to get mad at someone he didn't even wanna hear anymore...

<<Why are you being so cold all of a sudden, Masaki?>>

...or there still was one.

<<Haven't you heard me?! Stop wasting your time with me!>> At that point, Kariya had no chance but to end the call.

As soon as he started running towards home, everything being bad about his past relationship came to his mind.

Why hadn't he realized earlier?

Kyousuke just wanted clout, he just wanted to look cool to others, and he never liked him back. He was an object to him.

It had been his first relationship, they got together without even realizing it, and he surely knew it was gonna end, but not in that way. Or better, they broke up because they both "got tired", but the teal haired male missed him.

He had loved him.

He trusted him.

How could he had trusted someone he barely knew about before that easily?

As much as he didn't believe that, he realized none of the previous marks he had could've ever led to him. Maybe he wasn't the right one, maybe there wasn't a right one for him in that city.

_Maybe love was not done for him._

He finally reached for his house, rang the bell while still panting and wiped a few tears away with a hand.

Something still looked off to him, though. It was in no way related to his past conversation with Kyousuke, but with his parents' expression when they opened him the door.

Maybe it was just him being pessimist about everything.

<<'Sup>>

<<That's all you have to tell us?>> his mother asked, and suddenly paranoia insinuated in his head.

<<Uhm, yeah?>> Masaki nervously tried to walk to his room, yet his dad stopped him.

<<You sure?>>

<<Come on, tell me what happened already...>> the boy sighed, unaware of what he was gonna be told.

<<We thought you would've taken your test more seriously>>

"Shit" <<Are the results out?>> Kariya didn't want to sound so surprised about it, but it was natural of him. He was the only one taking that test, he should've known it.

<<We're really disappointed. Did you spend these days studying or playing videogames?>> his dad sounded less angry than his mum, but in the same way he was as mad as her.

<<Can i know how much I got, at least?>>

<<Thirteen out of twentyfive. The principal phoned us, you're going to have another test in September and if you fail that one->>

<<I know, I'll be kicked>>

<<How are you so careless about it?!>> the woman shouted <<You had enough time to revise everything, did you?>>

<<You can't suppose to know how much time I need! I'm already having a hard time myself, I thought you both knew I was doing my best with studies>>

<<You did badly, how were you doing your best then? And what's the reason of such hard times?>> his dad asked, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

<<Mind your business, it's nothing you can do about it>>

<<What's with this way of approaching us? Show some respect>>

Masaki didn't know for how long he could've handled the situation. <<Just leave me alone already, I've had enough today>>

<<Enough of what? We need to talk>>

As his dad tried to grab his arm, Kariya quickly got away from him and ran towards his room's door. He managed to enter the room, slamming then the door and locking it.

<<Leave me fucking alone!>>

He was on the point of crying again. Two times in a day, such a record for him. Nothing in his room was gonna make him feel better, though: his chemistry book was still opened on his desk, and whenever he tried to get past his negative feelings by using his phone he remembered about the call he had with his ex. His parents kept knocking at the door for a couple minutes, then gave up as he was never gonna let them in, they wouldn't have ever seen that side of him.

Everything about him was wrong, he already knew it.

He had felt that bad only two more times in his life, and both led him to ruin himself even more.

The boy looked down to his arms with such memories in his mind, and still rembered everything. The cuts he had around one year before on his right arm and the ones he did some months later on his left one, he could still see them. Ever since the last time he had the audacity to do such a thing at such a young age, he decided to take note of how much days would've passed until, for any possibility, he could've done it again. Every time he would've thought of cutting again, every time he'd have grabbed the razor he once stole from the bathroom and kept in his room, he would've opened the app he downloaded on his phone and told himself to calm down and keep the counter going. It went on like this for almost one year, but if he wasn't as proud of it as before.

Deep inside his mind, he'd always felt like it was gonna happen again one day or another.

He knew it was absolutely wrong, but he could do nothing about it that day. He wasn't strong enough to handle the situation anymore.

He bit his hand to not let out any moan of pain, then pressed one of the buttons on his app.

The counter reset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've finally made up my mind and decided to bring kyousuke into the drama as well, as i first thought to not let any inazuma character be kariya's ex boyfriend. well, i suddenly changed my plans, lmao.  
> anyways kyousuke is older than kariya here (still both being sixteen y/o, though) yet for what i've read online he should be younger (kariya born on march 1st, kyousuke on march 23rd), i hope it won't be confusing aa  
> i'm really sorry i couldn't update this fic until now but i got bad grades in latin and spent the whole week studying :,)  
> as always, if there are any mistakes just tell me and i'll fix them <3  
> i can assure the story will get deeper from this chapter onwards, so i hope you'll keep reading it!!


End file.
